A Fathers Day Sermon for All

I just want to wish our fathers happy fathers day and I thought the way to do that would be share a few comments from some of our high schoolers

Fathers Day Messages from our High Schoolers

Caroline O’Dell- Dad your cool

Kinsley and Everley Aldridge– Tim is Sus

Colin Jambekar- Thank you for your wisdom and all you've done for me.

Ava Decoste- I don’t care what Lia says about you your pretty cool

Ryan Gusmano- Dad what is your middle name I forgot, and you should grow out your beard

Cara Chadwell- Kenny boy is a legend

Jack and Claire Coplen- Dad when are you going to pay up for all the times you’ve mentioned us in service

Wyatt Harrison- Dad your hardworking

Avery Beal- Dad I love you

Being a father is always tricky. We don’t always know what to expect from our kids and they don’t always know what to expect from us. I recently heard of a fathers who’s young son asked him to explain where Pooh came from. The father of course was a bit taken aback but knew that these topics were important to explain in an age appropriate way and so he tried to breach the subject with tack while still communicating how things worked. After explaining he asked if his son had any more questions. His young son looked pretty disturbed but nodded and asked.... What about Tigger?

I think on that day everyone's expectations where a little off. As a church I think it is important to look at some of the expectations that God has for fathers as well as the expectations God has for the church in the way we honor fathers.

God’s Expectations of Kingdom Fathers

God has expectations of fathers. This first of course is that

Kingdom Fathers have trusted Christ as their Savior

It makes sense that in order to be a Godly one of course must be righteous in God’s eyes. Scripture is clear that all of us have a problem. That problem is that

We are sinners and the punishment for sin is death

Romans lays this out for us in no uncertain terms.

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin has corrupted all things and that includes being a parent. There is no way that I can consistently parent in an unconditionally loving way without a solution to the problem of sin.

It is sin that causes fathers to leave their wives and kids It is sin that causes fathers to disengage from the ages and stages of their childrens lives

It is sin that brings a father to value his job over his family

It is sin that tempts a father to be abuse to those around him

It is sin that encourages a father to place blame on everyone and expect no accountability for himself

Fatherhood is brought with sin because sin is a disease that has infected all of us.

Thankfully there is hope for all of us because

God has provided a way to be saved from sin and that way is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 15:3 ESV

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Thankfully we have a heavenly father who loves us enough to provide his own son as a sacrifice for sin. What Jesus did on the cross is what every father should live to be like

Self Sacrificial

Unconditionally loving

Desiring that those in their care grow to be Godly

God chose to give of himself for us in the most beautiful picture of love the world has ever known. How beautiful that though we were dead in sin Christ died for our sins so that we could be delivered

Our response to this is to trust Jesus for our salvation. Fathers must have faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Our salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Fathers can be quick to try and fix problems.

There is nothing any of us can do to fix our problem of sin. Instead we are called to accept the free gift of salvation offered to us. We cannot save ourselves, we cannot make ourselves look good enough to God. Instead we need to acknowledge that it is Jesus who is the way, the truth,m and the life and if we want a relationship with God the Father we must by faith trust in Jesus Christ

Pastor Matt, Pastor Jason, and myself as well as many others in our church would be more than happy to spend part of our fathers day sharing more about this if there would be anyone who has questions. But I will leave your with this.

There is no greater relationship to have than one with our Heavenly father who loves us and provides for us in so many different ways.

God doesn’t just want to have a relationship with us as fathers but he also desires for us to be spouses and parents in the best way possible. So the church should expect that ...

Kingdom Fathers Love and Honor their Wives

Ephesians 5:28 ESV

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Colossians 3:19 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

This seems straight forward but I know I can always be better at this. Parenting is HARD. It is easier when fathers love their wives more than anyone else in the family. It is crucial that every family member know and understand that Dad loves mom more than anyone else.

Example of my wife and I one The Snuggler and kicking Keegan out.

What if you are a single father?

Even a father who is divorced or single can model respectful behavior toward his child’s mother. Think of how much more beneficial that would be for your children.

Kingdom fathers encourage their children to trust in Jesus Christ

There are two passages that stand out to me here. First

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Ephesians 6:1–4 ESV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

All Nations includes and frankly starts with your kids

Fathers should have no greater joy than to see their children grow to trust in the Lord as they do. While godly parenting does not guarantee that children will be faithful it still honors God and builds the strong foundation needed for kids to grow in grace.

There are some simple ways fathers can do this

Take your children to church (Oh and you come too!) Model behavior for your kids that they can imitate. Choose joy at being a part of a body of like minded believers.

Talk to your kids about what they learned in Children's Church. Renae and her team do an amazing job at teaching truth. My 2.5 year old looked up at me the other day after church and said “Dad God loves YOU!, Does God love me?” He’s 2.5 I didn’t teach him that on my own. He learned that at church.

Read the Bible with your kids. Before bed is when we choose to do this and it is filled with “Sit down, are you listenings?, stop thats, and more but we read it and we learn.” If you don’t have an age appropriate bible book I will buy you one. Just ask.

Talk to your middle schoolers about how they can navigate the many changes that happen in life. yes they will roll their eyes. yes they will push you away. Yet it is needed and good to invade their life with truth and to help them figure out how to live it out.

Talk to your high schoolers about their dreams. Then ask them how that lines up with their faith. Ask them what God says about current events.

Talk to your college and early career children about wisdom and why its so unique and good to choose to be wise during their time in

We have hammered the dads hard enough. Lets talk about

God’s expectations for how we honor fatherhood

We honor fathers because God says so

Exodus 20:12 ESV

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Ephesians 6:2–3 ESV

“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

I could spend a lot of time on this but i think that the Bible is often extremely blunt for a reason. Whats the action word here? Honor. Who? Father and Mother. Does it give an end date for that? No There we go. Whats the promise if we do so? It will go well with you.

Moving on.

We honor fathers because they are made in God’s image

Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

We honor fathers because each of them are unique creations, designed and blessed by God. If God values them so should we! It doesn’t say here that fathers did anything to earn their respect or their value, it was established by God and so we should find joy in enjoying what God enjoys.

Look last time I preached many of you found joy in enjoying moon pies as I enjoyed them. It was a little weird for the moon pie company as their sales went through the roof in the Detroit area based on the number of you that told me you went out and bought some. This was not the point of that sermon but I guess I’m glad you got something out of it.

If you can go and stuff your faces with moon pies because someone else liked them, I think we can handle speaking about fathers and fatherhood in a way that points to us believing fathers are made in God’s image and are worth something.

We honor fathers because their role is designed and given by God

Romans 13:1 ESV

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

1 Peter 2:13–17 ESV

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Are fathers an authority designed by God? Yes, are we to Honor Everyone? Does that include Fathers? Yes. How about this. When we honor fathers when the world does not, what is the consequence? By doing this good we silence ignorant foolish people. Imagine if the church honored fathers as God designed? The consequence is that the world would have no argument against father hood. Today they try to make them . They try to diminish the roll and importance of fathers for a variety of reasons. But when fathers parent well, and people support them there is no argument it lives up to what God intended

So be cautious and care in how you talk about being a father, and how you talk about your father, and how you talk about other fathers! Yes we are imperfect, yes we fail, WE KNOW THAT! But as a church lets work to point to God the father by valuing fathers in our church and even in our communities. When we fail let us use it as an opportunity to point to the unfailing father of our salvation.

When we sin let us use it to point to the Father who forgives us of our sin

And when we do good let us use it to point to the one who gives us the grace to do so.

We honor fathers because of the serious tasks they must take on

Training

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Discipline and instruction

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Hebrews 12:9–10 ESV

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

Provision

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

What about those who cannot be fathers?

A Special Message and example for Fathers who desire fatherhood

I stated earlier that I asked our high school students for some messages for their fathers. I saved one for the end because I think it is important to highlight a group of people that are here today

It would be neglectful of me to leave out men in here who desire fatherhood but are unable to be fathers for a variety of reasons. One of our students. Katie Henstock grew up without a father in the picture. So when I asked if students had anything to say to their fathers she said this.

Robert Clark thank you for being a father figure and giving the best hugs

Robert has two kids of his own. But whether he knows it or not he has been a father figure to people like Katie.

As she graduates and moves into the college world it could be difficult for someone without a father to navigate the difficulties of that new life. I suspect that Robert is the type of man who would be helpful in any way he could to people like Katie.

Perhaps you are unable to have children, or your children have grown up and moved away. Maybe you aren’t married. This does not disqualify you from being fatherly to the fatherless.

I firmly believe that the church can use more kingdom men to desire to to be Godly fatherly examples to those in need.

When my father passed away in 2010 I was 20 years old. I certainly could have used a father in various situations even then. And I am thankful that God has blessed me with a father in law who cares for myself and my family and serves us unconditionally.

Some may say that I have to say that given the fact he is sitting here today but I do mean it.

I think it important that the church as a whole remember to expect fathers to live according to God’s commands

And I also think that it is important for the church as a whole to hold up fatherhood in a position of honor so that the world can see the importance and privilege of living up to God’s design.